Swallowing the Stars: Starting with the Steel of the Heart

As Xiang Bei gradually slowed his breathing, each breath became gentle and eventually imperceptible.

While Xiang Bei's senses of hearing, sight, and smell gradually diminished, his mental senses were gradually amplified.

Time passed by, second by second.

One minute, ten minutes, half an hour, one hour, two hours!

In this state, every second becomes exceptionally long, but Xiang Bei, who has had several experiences with this, knows very well that this kind of thing cannot be rushed.

Even though my legs and feet were sore and numb, I still didn't move an inch!

Gradually, he lost track of how much time had passed. Finally, just as Xiang Bei was about to give up and prepare to end his training for the day and rest,...

Suddenly, I felt a very faint aura hovering around my Baihui acupoint on the top of my head, and then slowly entering my body.

Then Xiang Bei gradually felt a faint sensation in his palms and soles as well.

"Cosmic Energy!"

Instantly, Xiang Bei's spirits lifted, and he quickly focused all his energy on his five core points.

The energy was absorbed very slowly, but it felt incredibly comfortable. My legs, which had been sore, numb, and swollen, felt as if they were being soaked in warm water.

However, as Xiang Bei focused all his attention on the Five Hearts and began to control the cultivation of the "Five Hearts Towards Heaven Technique," the speed at which the cosmic energy was drawn in gradually increased.

In the beginning, the energy of the universe seemed to slowly seep into Xiang Bei's body, drop by drop.

Now, as Xiang Bei focused his mind on these five hearts, the drops of water instantly accelerated and grew larger, eventually forming a small stream that flowed continuously into Xiang Bei's body.

"Awesome!" A feeling of comfort that emanated from the depths of his bones sent a shiver through Xiang Bei's entire body.

It felt so refreshing, like taking a big gulp of ice-cold cola after being exposed to the scorching summer sun for three days.

So refreshing! So refreshing all over!

For more than a decade, Xiang Bei's cells had been in a state of hunger, so now that he saw a full meal, he naturally devoured it frantically, not letting go of any energy absorbed into his body.

At this moment, as the energy was gradually absorbed by the cells, Xiang Bei's body began to evolve. Whether it was the surface skin, muscles, bones, or every cell deep inside, even the most essential genes, everything began to change.

"So comfortable!"

Time passed slowly, and gradually the absorption of energy in the palms and soles of the body slowed down, as if the body's cells were full, but unwilling to give up the unfinished food, so they would take a few more bites from time to time to satisfy their long-starved stomachs.

However, just when Xiang Bei thought his first attempt to draw cosmic energy into his body was about to end, the energy vortex at his Baihui acupoint on the top of his head suddenly began to increase its absorption speed instead of decreasing, and in a very short time, it exceeded the previous fastest absorption speed by several times.

A large amount of cosmic energy entered Xiang Bei's body, causing him to experience severe headaches.

"This is..."

The Baihui acupoint suddenly accelerated its attraction to cosmic energy. Xiang Bei could roughly guess what was going on, but he did not expect it to cause such a big commotion.

His entire head seemed to be unfolding, and as time went on, it wasn't just the Baihui acupoint on the top of his head that was being absorbed; even the palms and soles of his feet began to absorb more forcefully.

At that very moment, the dark equipment slot that had existed in Xiang Bei's mind for over a decade began to slowly become clearer.

And one of the previously barely discernible, blurry crystals gradually became clearer.

Xiang Bei endured the pain and looked inward according to his own consciousness.

This time, the things he had visited countless times before were finally clearly displayed before his eyes.

It was a bright red, heart-shaped gem with several sharp spikes, encased in steel, and surrounded by a faint red halo.

"Steel Heart?"

Xiang Bei was somewhat dazed at this moment, and he couldn't even care less about the pain in his head.

You should know that Xiang Bei was extremely familiar with this thing in his previous life!

As the saying goes:

Flesh and blood may be weak and frail, but steel doors will endure forever!

As a member of the Steel Gate in his previous life, Xiang Bei knew the function of the Heart Steel by heart, and he still remembered it clearly even in this world.

Heart of Steel: 900 HP, 200% base HP recovery

Colossal Devour: Cooldown 4 hours. When there is one or more enemies within 7*100 (your own level) meters, it will continuously perform a charged attack on enemies within the range for 3 seconds, dealing 80 base damage + 12% of the user's health as additional damage, and providing 12% of the damage dealt as permanent maximum health.

"Hmm? The ability to increase body size is gone?"

As soon as Xiang Bei focused his consciousness on the Heart Steel, a message appeared in his mind.

"Hmm, it doesn't seem to have disappeared, but rather become a latent enhancement. I'm not sure exactly how latent it is. It seems I'll have to figure it out myself later." Xiang Bei had gained some understanding of the information transmitted from the Heart Steel.

The biggest change is the increased size, which is now a hidden boost; the specific effects are unknown and require further investigation. Also, the cooldown time has increased from thirty seconds to four hours, a significant change that greatly limits Xiang Bei's snowballing development.

Of course, there are also good aspects. The charging distance of "Giant Devouring" is no longer fixed, but varies according to his own strength level.

For example, if he is currently an apprentice at level one, then the charging distance is 7*100 meters, which is seven hundred meters. This is a considerable distance, giving Xiang Bei ample preparation time.

Of course, besides these, Xiang Bei had many other questions.

For example, how are health points and maximum health points displayed?

Is it simply physical strength? But this is the world of Swallowed Star, where some powerful beings can even be reborn from a drop of blood, and an immortal soul is considered immortal.

If we calculate it this way, does that mean the soul is still counted in the life points?

After all, in the world of Swallowed Star, there are not only flesh and blood life forms, but also energy life forms, mechanical life forms, rock life forms, and even plant life forms, and there are even some special life forms that do not even have a soul.

If the soul is considered part of life, then what about will?

He remembered that above the Swallowed Star World was the Origin Continent, and even above that, there were several terrifying beings who, even if they only had their will left, could be reborn.

Since they didn't die, does that mean their health points weren't completely depleted?

But if we count everything...

Xiang Bei shook his head, no longer daring to think about it further, fearing that continuing to think about it might lead to some bad consequences.

Fortunately, after the Heart Steel was unlocked, the pain in his mind gradually subsided. However, the cosmic energy did not seem to stop and continued to pour into Xiang Bei's body.